April is the month of fashion in Barcelona. Prior to a new edition of Barcelona Bridal Fashion Week, a week ago saw the start of the latest edition of 080 Barcelona Fashion, with 22 virtual parade shows and designers who presented the new season in the Macba, within the rationalist building designed by the architect Richard Meier. A new staging of the imaginative creativity exhibited by brands via Fashion Films, seasonal collections that can be followed visually on the website of the Catalan catwalk. Gratacós has also followed the latest fashion trends to check once again how our fabrics have taken shape thanks to the designers who habitually trust in us: Avellaneda, Eiko Ai, Menchen Tomás, Yolancris and Victor Von Schwarz. We review the new creations and some of the key looks.
Summer nights
Faithful to his hedonist philosophy the dandy Juan Avellaneda transposes us to tropical latitudes in his new summer collection to continue exploring the most relaxed elegance, inspired by warm paradises in the north of Africa. The central feature of the creation is via natural fabrics, luminous or fiery shades such as pink, orange and coral, and patterns that in general lack rigidity. There are also several models of jacket, the fetish garment of the brand of this Barcelona designer, which oscillate effortlessly between male and female wardrobes. The prints move away from the banal to embrace a Mediterranean version of delicateness that gives character to ethereal skirts and smoking-jackets which rebel against the boring. The garments evoke the practical elegance of Saharan and classic tailoring by those mid-century holiday-makers who immortalized Slim Aarons. Blouses caress the body and intertwine. Trousers dance and dresses cling to the skin or deploy fabulous volumes and flyers, another 100% Avellaneda detail. In Au réveil il était midi all the clothes combine with everything, they harmonize and flow for a perfect summer.
The warm sunlight
Eiko Ai dazzles us with Lucid Dreams, a radiant collection inspired by the vitality of solar energy. In addition to this inspiration Glò Lladó’s formula remains firm in each of her designs and consists of promoting feminine beauty by playing with delicacy and sensuality. And how does she achieve it? Via vaporous silhouettes, ethereal fabrics which give glimpses of skin and via evocative stamping that mixes sophistication without abandoning the casual and cosmopolitan spirit of this Barcelona company. The new summer creation from Eiko Ai enhances the kimono dresses, fluid blouses and two-piece combinations featuring transparencies, subtle glitter and faded prints with other florals that pay tribute to that mystical vision of woman as an urban nymph. The palette of the collection goes for positivism, summer life and golden light via intense oranges playing with the range of yellows, pinks and whites and brushstrokes of intense blue sky.
Class is class
For his part, Menchen Tomás reminds us of the importance of inheritance in Old Money, a collection that is inspired by the way of dressing and living of American families who have managed to pass fortune, class and status from generation to generation. An aesthetics characterized by sophistication, the fusion between the classic and the contemporary and timeless elegance, far from the culture of logo and ostentation. With that interpretation the Barcelona company brings together garments such as dresses and midi-skirts, pinned wide trousers, voluminous poplin shirts with other sporty garments that could be used for a day in a country-club or dinner in a garden on a summer night. Regards fabric details there is no shortage of silks, organzas and tulle flowers in a vibrant chromatic palette: blue, lime green, yellow, fuchsia-pink and bright-red.
Fashion without gender
Victor von Schwarz is part of the new generation of young talents that bring creativity and freshness on the 080catwalk. This time, the designer Barcelona presented a collection inspired by the Asian Mafia films of the 80s and 90s, whose centre of operations was the red neighbourhoods of cities such as Taipei or Hong Kong. Victor von Schwarz is committed to fashion without gender. Therefore, the designer, inspired by oriental clothing, creates open pieces, which anyone can wear, regardless of sex or gender. The silhouettes of the new summer creational are divided into two blocks. The first is very bright, with volumes, drape and transparency features that give a glimpse of skin. The second, part of a much more square silhouette and with variations of the classic tailored jacket. In this collection the fabrics are characterized by their imaginativeness. Sequins are prominent, from Vichy print to bright degrade. We also highlight bright laminates based on viscose and tulles with silver prints. As for colours, pastel shadestones and splashes of colour are a feature of this genderless creation.
Black velvet
Yolancris this time participated in the 080 Barcelona Fashion with her party collection, leaving aside her more experimental project Y Como. The new creation highlights the craft-work redolent of her own workshop itself where the accent is on velvet, flesh-colour and black. With regard to detail, velvet is mixed with golden threads, embedded French lace and macramés in an attractive combination. Binomies of colour also dominate: gold-black and white-black, and are separated with explosions of monocoloured dresses: red and powder pink. As for silhouettes, the collection brings together some classic pattern ideas combined with some more daring features, evident, for example, in the openings of the dresses. In general Yolancris’s creation aims to be timeless so as to offer an expansive wardrobe for special occasions.
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080 Barcelona Fashion is celebrating. The catwalk, which will take place from 26 to 30 June in the Recinte Modernista de Sant Pau, is celebrating its 20th edition with a large fashion programme that goes beyond parades to include more parallel activities, business conferences, evening parties, special presentations and a guest of honour who will become one of the main advertisements for the Catalan catwalk.
The Missoni saga in Barcelona
In this edition, Margherita Missoni, third generation of the prestigious Italian firm, will collect the Fashion Tribute which the parade is devoting to his mother, Angela Missoni, current co – owner and creative director of the brand. In turn, Margherita will offer a talk about the Missoni saga and its influence on fashion entitled “The Missoni Family. Born into fashion “. This talk will be shared with Vogue ex-director Lisa Lowatt-Smith.
The debut of new talents
In the field of design there are some absentees, such as Sita Murt, Menchén Tomàs or TCN, but for the first time on the catwalk there are emerging talents like Mietis, Jnorig, AMT or the designers Colmillo de Morsa who we interviewed a few months ago. For the first time in Catalonia the designer Maria Roch will be in the parade with her feminine creations and the designers Elena Estaun and Gema Sach. They will join the catwalk cast along with the regular brands and designers from which we highlight Brain & Beast – whose daring and rebellious parade is always a must -. As is usual in summer editions, swimwear also takes centre stage on the catwalk with companies such as Red Point, Como un Pez en el Agua or Guillermina Baeza.
In total there are 37 designers and companies that will parade on the catwalk, with a clear modernist accent.
Special activities
To commemorate the 20 editions held over the decade, 080 Barcelona Fashion has scheduled a special calendar among which is the presentation of the capsule collection by the Catalan company Macson, which is celebrating 75 years in the business. It sees the debut as designer of the choreographer and dancer Rafael Amargo, the concert by Andrea Motis which is part of the 080 Barcelona Fashion Nights and a special catwalk party entitled Anniversary party by Zalando. On the solidarity front the Catalan parade is also promoting a philanthropic action with the Casal dels Infants, by marketing a commemorative T – shirt designed from a figurine by the prestigious New York illustrator Rubén Toledo.
Finally, the parallel activities include the holding of the 080 Barcelona Fashion Showroom, which will be transformed into a fair and will be held on 28 and 29 June; it further includes the 080 Investor Day, the International Investment Forum of the Fashion Industry and the annual meeting of the textile-fashion sector, Texmeeting by TEXFOR.
Access all the programming of 080 Barcelona Fashion here.
In connection with young designers and the industry ‘s future we want to highlight the new edition of Barcelona Fashion Summit as a meeting of professionals in the fashion business. This time the conference will focus on the theme ‘Next Generation: the future of the fashion business’ with topics for analysis such as young business leaders, the new consumers, generational changes or new forms of management and business in the fashion industry.
We like initiatives which take into account all agencies within the sector and which provide a platform for the smallest companies, stick up for local industry and back those who need a push to reactivate a business which had been affected by the economic crisis. In this respect 080 Barcelona Fashion, via various public institutions in Catalonia and textile organisations, has provided the impulse for a new event for the promotion of textile and design in the l’Anoia region.
The initiative is called 08700- Nits de Pell i Punt ( Nights of Fur and Knitwear ) and next Thursday 23rd February in Igualada it will reunite a sample of designers and professionals within the sector in a single day-session where emerging designers and Catalan companies linked to leather-ware will participate in a fashion-parade. Below we give you more details about each of the participants:
1. Zer
The company set-up by the debutants Núria Costa and Anne Costo conceives of fashion as being each person’s demand for individuality. These two designers create knitted garments enhanced by the latest technological innovations.
2. Alicia González
This young designer has worked in the design department of companies such as Josep Font, Lydia Delgado, Guillermina Baeza and Mango. In Mango she discovered her passion for knitwear. In her company ODD ONE OUT Alicia González goes for an “urban luxury” style with knitted garments created with superior fibres and hand-crafted techniques. She offers quality, exclusivity and atemporality in clothes where the very last detail spoils the wearer.
3. Xavi Grados
After his appearance at 080 Barcelona Fashion the designer from Igualada combines his work in his own company with that he carried out in the design department of Punto Blanco. Xavi Grados carries the banner for his town with the knitwear and leather-work in each and every one of his garments placing emphasis on the raw materials.
4. Peletería VM La Sibèria
This celebrated Barcelona furrier, founded in 1891, continues tradition thanks to the passion for the job which each generation of the same family has inherited. Peletería VM La Sibèria are experts in producing the furs in locally-based work-shops where all attention is given to innovation and design.
In this economic and cultural encounter, which will take place in La Sala, in the Cercle Mercantil there will also be an exhibition of products designed by entrepreneurs and local brands produced in the region.
It offers a date with local industry at the end of a week full of activities linked to the fashion industry. Everything suggests that, in addition to the biennial fashion-parades, 080 Barcelona Fashion will continue its commitment to backing promotional initiatives in fashion which are springing up in various parts of Catalonia.
080 Barcelona Fashion is finalising preparations for a new edition which will exhibit the talent and creativity of 33 brands and designers who will present their collections for the coming season Autumn-Winter 2017/2018. This time the competition will take place from 30th January till 3rd February in the National Theatre of Catalonia (TNC) which is celebrating 20 years of existence. An archetypal stage-setting for Barcelona, conceived of in order to strengthen links between fashion and theatre. Given this motive it is not surprising that the inauguration of the fashion parade will welcome the presence of the celebrated French designer Pierre Cardin, who will come to Barcelona to present his new production “ Dorian Gray. Beauty shows no mercy”, a musical montage about the world of Oscar Wilde which had its première last summer in Venice.
On the creative front some great designers, such as Sita Murt or Menchèn Tomàs, are notable for their absence, although there are new additions, such as the young designers Daniel Rosa, Anel Yaos and Pilar del Campo, the company Aubergin, the designs for children by Little Creative Factory and men’s underwear E.S.Collection. Special mention should be made of the participation of designers who collaborate closely with our shop, such as Justicia Ruano, who will present his collection “Hedonism” for the rebel-seductress woman; also Brain and Beast with their presentation “Trilogy Vol Y Playback”. Angel Vilda will surely surprise with new designs whose aesthetic is that of the seventies and with large doses of humour- sometimes with a show of temper -whose conception we find fascinating. The fabrics in the collection are by Gratacós and soon we will be seeing the results.
Commercially one of the most surprising innovations is the introduction of the trend ready to buy – seen on other international fashion parades and in companies like Burberry or Tommy Hilfiger – in some of the collections by the Catalan designers. Specifically this is the case with companies such as Custo Barcelona, TCN, Escorpion and the designer ZE García. This means that the garments exhibited on the cat-walk can be bought on the spot and in this case they will correspond to displays from this coming Spring season. What seems all the more interesting is the offering by Manuel Bolano, who is adopting this trend; his presentation is in the format of an exhibition of his “’Plan B” collection, where he reinterprets studio pieces which will be commercialized exclusively on his web-page and which can be acquired on the same day of the parades. I see it, I want it, I’ll buy it.
In connection with the young designers and the future of the sector we should like to mention once again the new edition of Barcelona Fashion Summit as a meeting point for professionals in the fashion business. On this occasion the day-session will centre on the topic “Next Generation : the Future of the Fashion Business “ with analysis of topics such as the leading young entrepreneurs, the new consumers, the change in generations or the new forms of management and business demanded by the fashion industry.
